"The truth is you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed." –Eminem

Author's Note: I'd say you guys are lucky to get two chapters in one day but this one is so short it doesn't really count. XMarkZX brought up something my mind has been telling me for a while now, but I just haven't gone through with because I felt like I needed to take it slow in order to get a particular point across. That being said I still think I pulled it(it being the point) off with this chapter. I apologize for anything and everything that you are about to read.

BRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNNGGG!

X looked up from the book he was reading to stare at the phone. When it rang a second time, he stood to retrieve it. Who would be calling at this time in the night? It was three in the morning!

"Hello?"

"X, this you?" X blinked at the voice on the phone. What was Zero doing calling at this time of the night. Was something wrong?

"Zero?"

"Yeah."

"Is there something wrong?"

". . .yeah," Zero paused before continuing, " . . .there was a maverick attack at a super market this morning. I was sent in, but I was on the other side of the city and a whole lot of people were dead by the time I got there."

"Shit, again?"

"X . . . Shit man, I don't know how to tell you this."

X couldn't explain the feeling of dread that was starting to form in his stomach.

" . . .I recognized Tony as one of the ones killed."

X's processor nearly shut down and he froze. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think.

"W-what?" His voice came out as nothing more than a whisper.

"Tony's dead, X. I'm sorry."

Tony. Tony was dead. His processor whirled to believe that Tony was gone.

. . . It was a long time before X mustered up the energy to swallow.

"Where?" he demanded.

"Megamarket. But X-!"

"Zero, I want to verify."

"That's not-."

"Zero," X announced firmly.

". . . alright. It's rough out here X. Are you sure you want to-?"

"Zero." X's gaze had hardened to determination.

"Yeah. I'll be waiting."

X only barely spared the time to write a quick note to Cain before rushing out the door.


Zero nervously tugged at one of his many strands of his hair, sparing a glance at Sigma speaking to the cops every once in a while. It had been a bad night. There had been increasingly more of those lately. Zero had been getting less and less breaks this last month and it was all due to the rise in maverick activity. He frowned as his eyes caught a glimpse of yet another white bagged body being carried away.

He hadn't known Tony very well. Sure, he'd talked to the kid a couple of times and he did like the teen. He was funny and energetic and provided a spark in the air. However, he wasn't all that close to the teen. Not like X was. Which was why Zero believed that the android needed to know first thing.

Sigma had reluctantly agreed to the plan even though it went against regulations. Zero wasn't known for being sentimental, so when the red armored reploid went up to him and asked if X could come on scene because he'd recognized one of the dead, Sigma had agreed. The most Zero ever asked for was more battle time, so this was such an alarming change of pace that he felt inclined to agree.

The red reploid stared remorsefully at the flickering Megamarket sign. The "market" bit was completely gone, while the "Mega" flickered weakly in the dead of night. The word whispered to him, telling him something more, but he merely shook his head. He'd been hearing a lot of voices lately and thankfully they had been decreasing in frequency, because some of them were very concerning. The introduction of a new blaring light snapped him back into attention. He straightened and bounded forward when a taxi pulled up and a familiar face stepped out. X ducked under the caution tape, ignoring the protests of the police, which were quickly silenced by Zero's gloved hand.

X spared Zero a small smile, but couldn't manage much more than that.

Wordlessly, Zero led his friend through a mess of sheet covered bodies and burning piles of rubble, through the barely recognizable long rows of trashed products, until he stopped next to a single white covered mass in a sea of similarly disguised bodies at the back of the former supermarket. X nodded and Zero bent down to pull the sheet back to reveal the face. Still green eyes and a messy head of auburn hair stared zombie like ahead. X stood there stunned and quickly Zero covered the face back up and rushed to the android's side, helping him to sit on the ground.

"Shit," X muttered. "Shit."

"X-," Zero started. X shook his head, clearly not in the mood to think and wordlessly, Zero settled down beside him. He was struggling with the idea himself. Just over a week ago, he had resolved to protect humanity so as to protect X's ambitions and beliefs, but clearly he had failed. Tony was dead and Zero had not been there to save him. A police officer ushered them away, telling them that they needed to clear the bodies, and Zero guided X to a combat vehicle wear they could sit and continue their silent vigil. The vigil continued for a while before Zero determined that he had to do something about the guilt eating away at him. "X, I'm sorry. I-."

"I should have joined weeks ago when I thought of it." Zero was stunned, turning slightly to look at the android. "I thought about it. I thought about the increase of maverick attacks and how something needed to be done before somebody I cared about got hurt. But I was determined that I could figure out a way to cure everybody. I was selfish and naïve and just so stupid for believing that. God, I'm such an idiot."

"X, it's not your fault. You're not a maverick hunter."

"I could have been."

"X, things were crazy tonight. We were spread too thin. There was nothing anybody could have done. It wasn't the maverick hunter's fault. It wasn't yours."

X sighed and leaned back against the seat of the car.

"I know, but I keep thinking what if," he said. Zero smiled remorsefully as his gaze focused on the roof of the car.

"So have I, X. So have I."

Another silence filled the air. Zero played with a strand of his hair nervously. X was upset and that did not sit well with him. He understood why the android was upset and he also understood that nothing could have been done. But something about watching the android get so upset over a person he hadn't even known for a year put his systems in a serious state of distress. He wanted to fix this. He needed to fix this. He just didn't know how.

"Please tell me the maverick was detained." Zero decided that lying left a very bitter taste in his tongue no matter how much he knew X hated violence, so he chose not to.

"Couldn't. Was too big to restrain. Had to take him down. I personally fired a point blank shot at its I.C."

X nodded. He stared out the window and at the front of the market, the flickering light filling his body with steady resolve. "I'm signing up tomorrow."

"X, you hate fighting."

"I do, but I don't have a choice. I'm tired of blundering around in the lab, hoping to find the cure. People are dying and I'm not any use in the lab with that sort of thing."

Zero nodded. "We'll figure out why this is happening. I promise. Someday we'll figure it out and then both humans and reploids can coexist in peace without having to be in constant fear of each other."

"Now that would be an Arcadia." Zero almost relaxed at the lighter mood that had set in.

"Arcadia? That sounds like a shit storm waiting to happen."

"Isn't everything?" X commented dryly.

Zero internally winced. Leave it to be his mouth that brought back the foul mood.

"We need to let the others know," X commented and as he turned to leave, Zero caught a glimpse of red streaks running down the sides of the android's face as he left the vehicle. Zero paused midway in his motion of getting out of the vehicle, wondering when X had started crying. He'd been staring at the ceiling so it explained why he hadn't seen anything, but surely he would have heard something?

"X, wait," Zero rushed out of the car. "Maybe you should give it a moment. One of the police officers will call them. They're trained for this."

"Zero, I have given it a moment."

"Have you really?" The maverick hunter stepped closer and in one fluid motion, pulled X close to his chest. "'Cause, I know you X, and you are far too emotional to just walk this off. Let it out, X."

X's body was shaking with sobs before his head had even touched Zero's shoulder.

"Damnit Zero, I don't want anybody to ever have to go through this."

"I know X, I know. We'll get through this. I promise."

In front of him, Zero watched with almost impartial fascination that the "Mega" had steadied to become a single glowing bright light.

Author's Note: Again, this chapter is painfully short, but adding more to this just didn't work. It took away from the idea.